1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices concerned with assisting human beings in exercise or physical activities such as running, walking or jumping. More particularly, the invention relates to a device enabling a person to run, walk or jump with less expenditure of energy and less stress throughout various parts of a person's body.
2. Description of Prior Art
Running, walking and jumping all involve certain common motions which can be divided into two key parts. One part involves an upward movement in which an individual's center of gravity is raised thereby increasing the body's potential energy. A second part can be described as a downward movement in which the leg or legs and foot or feet land back on the ground. The leg or legs absorb the potential energy as the center of gravity is lowered. During a complete cycle of a body's movement in running, walking or jumping, the center of gravity will be raised or lowered. Energy is used both to raise the body's center of gravity and to counteract the body's momentum as it returns to the ground. The degree of vertical displacement of the center of gravity is generally greater in jumping than in running or walking and greater in running than in walking.
There are devices which assist or augment the upward or downward movement of the center of gravity in running, walking and jumping. Shoes have been designed to reduce impact and obtain energy absorption. Devices are known which aid individuals in exercise activities by supporting an individual's weight or weight of a part of the individual's body. Devices are known which help support a particular position assumed by an individual when engaging in athletic activities or in training for athletic activities. Examples believed to be indicative of such devices are taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,408,600, 4,450,832, 4,955,608, 5,062,642 and Soviet Union Patent No. 977-001.
Devices have been utilized in the past to store some of the potential energy but do not effectively return the energy to assist in the upward movement involved in running, walking or jumping. There is a need for a device which can be used for enhancing the performance of those who are physically fit as well as enabling those in need thereof to strengthen and rehabilitate muscles, tendons and joints while reducing the stress and loads upon the various body parts. There is a further need for a device which while providing exercise to the legs also provides strengthening for the arm, shoulder and back muscles.
A device which is effective in storing some of the potential energy that would otherwise have been lost upon the downward phase or downward movement in running, walking and jumping and exchange it for kinetic energy to assist the upward movement of such physical activities is especially useful in that it assists an individual throughout the cycle of running, walking or jumping and continually assists from cycle to repeated cycle. A device which also assists an individual in regaining potential energy by raising the user's center of gravity is also useful.